The Maccabaean

IN order to explain the present-day plight of Jewry in Hungary, it will be necessary to give a complete view of a cross-section of the population of that country in all its stratifications, particularly with reference to the way in which the Jewish masses are (in rather pell-mell fashion) wedged in between the various social and economic strata.

First, there is in Hungary the Jewish aristocracy, members of the nobility of the land. It would be more correct to say there was, since this class has been rushing headlong towards assimilation, so that today but a slight portion thereof may still be regarded as Jewish. No regret need be wasted on these deserters, who have never redounded to the glory of the Jewish people.

Secondly, there follows the numerous Jewish “intelligentsia,” which in Hungary (as is well known) forms sixty per cent. of the general “intelligentsia”-—a large proportion, when one considers the fact that Jews constitute but six per cent. of the total number of all racial groups. In Hungary every second lawyer, physician and civil engineer is a Jew. This class had before the war become so deeply rooted into Magyar society, and was so closely twined with it, that nothing but the most terrific convulsions, such as ran their tempestuous course in our land during the last two years, could pluck it out of the mother-soil. Indeed, this is the very stratum that has completely lost the ground from under it.

The third stratum consists of merchants, middlemen, captains of industry and factory-owners. It is a very numerous class, too. In the capital city—the heart of Hungary—this class has become considerably assimilated, but is not at all so assimilated in the outlying country districts.

The fourth stratum is formed by the group of petty artisans and workingmen.

And now we must take these strata serially and discuss their condition before and during the war, and at the present time.

The Jewish aristocracy in Hungary are in the main large landowners, having control of vast holdings. It is patent that these played a star röle before and during the World War. When the final collapse came, it meant a great blow to them, for the home-coming peasantry swooped down first of all upon their domain, stilling its land-hunger on the splendidiy cultivated “Jew holdings”—so-called even if the owner had become baptized! This was such a natural oceurrence that no one expressed astonishment over it. History shows, however, that what the peasant once had snatched for himself could not be taken from him through kind words or armed force. Thus, no matter which way the pendulum of politics swung, it was utterly unimaginable that the lands, cunningly expropriated by the peasant’s plow, should be returned to the rightful owners.

While none would waste pity upon these owners, the fate of the Jewish intelligentsia causes all of us the greater anxiety. The Jewish intelligentsia in Hungary, above all other classes, suffered and suffers most. It suffered during the war when it was bleeding and starving for love of country, and it suffers a hundredfold now when, thrown out of its hothouse, where it has during the last decade thriven so luxuriously, it finds itself facing defenselessly an embittered

enemy. Upon this class the Magyar intelligentsia proper has launched a war of extermination, taking for its aid the half-intelligentsia (small office-holders, etc.)—which, by the way, does not speak well for the Magyar genius. I repeat, it is a war of extermination, a war to the death, whose first act was at the outset to cut off the academic life of the Jew by closing the universities, where today not a single Jewish student is registered. Further, Jewish professionals were excluded at short notice from all the scientific institutes and the hospitals. Thus, thousands of Jewish physicians, professors, engineers, etc., were reduced to a state of extreme indigency. This same hostile spirit has found its way into the judiciary and the public offices. Even Jews have ceased for this reason to entrust their cases to Jewish lawyers, well knowing that if represented by Christian advocates they can hope for a more favorable outcome at these tainted forums. Hence, most Jewish lawyers suffer today from what the Bible calls "cleanness of teeth."

The matter has come to such a pass that there is hardly a Magyar but considers it of vital importance to wage this crusade against the Jewish intelligentsia. This warfare of intellectual anti-Semitism, however, is being carried on not exactly with intellectual weapons, since fist and club can by no stretch of the imagination be regarded as part of the armory of the mind. But, let it be conceded, that this crusade is not without its justification, neither is it novel and unexpected. Any one studying the scientific and artistic life of Hungary would easily be struck with the obvious fact, with which all Hungary is familiar, that the Jewish intelligentsia has utterly Judaized that life. The Magyar intelligentsia, not having disdained to check this process of Judaization even by the power of the fist,—and having succeeded in its nefarious purpose,—has thereby unwittingly confessed that in this field it cannot stand competition with the Jewish intelligentsia. The enemy side argues, however, that no matter how classic the creations of the heterogeneous Jewish element may be, these are but a kind of hybrid Magyar-Judaic blend, and from a national standpoint highly exceptional. It is altogether evident in the circumstance that, no matter what turn Hungarian politics may take in the future, the considerable Jewish intelligentsia in Hungary, having been deprived of all subsistence, can never again recover the positions it formerly held.

Turning to the third stratum, that of merchants and manufacturers, we find diverse elements belonging thereto. Here looms up Hungary's richest man, owner of the munition factory at Chepel—Manfred Weiss. Almost every Magyar winced under the fact that during the war this Jew became the richest man in Magyarland. Gossip was all a-hum with the many thousand millions Mr. Weiss was supposed to have made. There was little talk, indeed, of the circumstance that no charitable institution in Hungary but had been maintained by him to the extent of fifty per cent. of its budget, even at the time when he was not yet so exceedingly wealthy. With the support of the Hungarian Government a bitter war was instituted against all Jewish manufacturers, bankers, wholesale dealers—though not without justification. For the commerce and industry, owing to the